ROMANTIC STORY #107, June 1970. Rare Ditko romance story.

ROMANTIC STORY #107 is your typical romance fare for the era. A rather nice cover and story with a thrill seeking ne'erdowell (Luis Avila art), the one pager with catty girlfriends (art by Charles Nicholas and Jack Abel), a standard "ski resort" tale (art by the team of Nicholas and Alascia). But the real reason to read this one is for the Steve Ditko story. Ditko drew only a handful of romance stories for Charlton (or anywhere else for that matter), and while this is still rather mundane compared to his genre work, it's a nice look at something he just didn't get to do very often.

MONSTER HUNTERS #12, March 1978

Behind this rather pedestrian cover ( I'm unsure of who drew this, but it sure looks like Carlos Vila, or at the very least the Recreo Studio), lies some rather good stories.

Issue #12 was the final "All New" issue (with the following issue containing but a single new 8 pager), and despite the lackluster cover the interiors deliver the goods.

First up is Snake Charmer with art handled by the aforementioned Carlos Vila. This one is filled with panels of the antagonist in various states of skimpy dress/undress, and certainly pushed the boundaries of what the Code would allow. There's even an instance of a "nip slip" that somehow got past the code watchdogs!

Follow that up by the able team of Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia with one their "swamp" stories and add in the always fine looking art of Dick Piscopo to round out the issue and we are treated to a pretty decent book. Those who skipped over it on the racks due to it's cover missed out on some pretty good stuff!